


Volume 1: The Default Experience

by LettermanFive



Series: Don't Starve: "No Strings Attached!" [1]
Category: Don't Starve (Video Game)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-01
Updated: 2016-07-01
Packaged: 2018-07-19 09:21:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7355191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LettermanFive/pseuds/LettermanFive
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They all had lives, regardless of how terrible it was before they made the bargain. After the same deal condemns each of them to the same terrible fate, they band together in an attempt to survive an unforgiving world that wants them all dead.</p>
<p>And to think, it was just the beginning.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This series takes place after the events depicted in the official Klei Comic and "A New Reign" Cinematic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you are already familiar with the beginning of the game, which chances are you probably are, then you're probably safe skipping this chapter if you feel like it.
> 
> All you really need to know is two things:
> 
> 1) Maxwell isn't here when he spawns. That will be explained later.  
> 2) He wakes up with red marks around his neck as result of somebody trying to strangle him, except that no one was around to actually do that. Will also be explained later.

His body lay dormant within the field of grass, upturned and facing towards the dark blue sky. It was transitioning into lighter shades with the arrival of the morning sun, yet even with the bright and welcoming warmth of the sun's first rays that were being complemented by the the more passive sky, the man continued resting with great turmoil.

There was no one present to greet the scientist, excluding the one or two observant crows spectating from the distance; but it's not as if they made any effort in disturbing his uneasy rest.

His breathing was shallow and had grown sharper with each subsequent breath, causing for a notable increase in his pulse. Should the man have been awake he would stated that he was experiencing something akin to a night terror, except that in this situation he felt a force that was actually influencing his diaphragm. Specifically, a force that felt akin to somebody actually strangling him...

Not that he would know what it was like to have been strangled due to the fact that, as far as he knew, it has never happened to him in the past. Regardless of the fact, the sensation had felt familiar within some regard and he very well knew that he was going to die if he couldn't manage to break free from whatever influence was over him. Still trapped within his sleep, he made an attempt at breaking free by kicking, thrashing, and desperately clawing at his own throat in effort to ward away what ever force was effecting him...All actions, however, proved useless as there was no force of which he could break free from because there was no one performing the action of strangling him. 

There was nothing he could do. The sensation of defeat was one he was all too familiar with, and coming to term with the reality that there was nothing he could do to prevent his upcoming demise, he became devoid of all hope. His body became limp as he stopped moving altogether, so after finally embracing death he exhaled what he was sure to be his last breath...

Until his eyes snapped open as his torso jerked forwards.

He was sitting awake and was breathing steadily, albeit heavily. He brought his hand to his own neck to confirm that there was no object that was obstructing his breathing, and found that there was indeed nothing. He was almost quick to write it off as some sort of contrived reaction that was result of the many restless nights he had undergone while constructing the device a voice on the radio had instructed him to do, but as he spotted a nearby puddle he hastily crawled its direction and glanced at his neck.

Surprisingly, there were red marks there that indicated someone was choking him. To think that the mark would have been unbeknownst to himself if he had not checked was terrifying enough, but even more so was the fact that somebody had done the dirty deed and managed to disappear from within his sights in mere seconds...But regardless of whatever it was that just happened, he wasn't going to remain idle for some other mysterious force to strike at him again.

He stood up and straitened his waistcoat, dusting off the grass that clung to its sides. After looking in all directions he concluded that he was in the wilderness and that civilization could be a fair distance away. However, he was not worried about the position he was in; not in the slightest as a matter of fact.

It was just a matter of understanding the environment and conquering it all with the power of his mind. He was as much a thinker and a survivalist as he was a gentleman and a scientist: a man who was intent on getting back to the life he had before, no matter what sort of hardships would come his way...

But he couldn't possibly expect the challenges that had been written out before him.


	2. Journal Entry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wilson notices smoke rising up from the distance and assumes that it can only be one thing: another human. In his journal, he recites the findings of the strange new world he finds himself in and prepares for an encounter with another person.
> 
> Hopefully all goes well.

It was the dawn of yet another day and the songs chanted by the many birds perched within the various trees nearby indicated such. As the cold air of the frosty night was retreating, so was the ink-black darkness of the sky which was then illuminating at the arrival of the sun peaking right above the horizon of the grassy plains opposite to the forest the man was facing.

He had spent all night prior slumped next to a humble campfire whilst he was gathering his thoughts in order and organizing necessary materials into a knapsack he was to take with him. After much deliberation of what possible sources that the large cloud of smoke he witnessed the day before may have had, he concluded that it was a by the hands of another human and made no haste in preparing for an encounter with them before they should meet a grizzly fate.

Of course, he made sure to prepare before embarking on his journey first. Food supplies were steady; materials to start a fire were abundant; a stick or two were packed for the fabrication of some tools; and with what little materials he could gather, he fashioned a healing salve that was created with the ashes of the campfire that had just extinguished.

Additionally, he carried his ax with the intention of securing more firewood later on, but should the individual prove to be less than cooperative...

It did have other purposes, to put it simply.

But he quickly shrugged off that mentality with confidence that he wouldn't have to resort to such levels of violence. With the pack ready and the light of day by his side, he head off with the intention of meeting another person and providing them with some aid if need be so that they were on equal terms and ready to find a solution so that they may escape together.

But regardless of the amount of planning that has went into his task he still managed to find himself a bit nervous...which was an odd characteristic for a man as cool and analytical as him to display. His biggest concern about the whole ordeal was that it may all be in his head, that the smoke could've been some warped image concocted by a desperate mind hoping to make sense of the twisted world it found itself in.

He may as well have been going insane, but before he could even come to terms with that sort of that possibility he reached inside of his pack and pulled out an object. It appeared to be a makeshift journal fabricated out of thin sheets of papyrus bound together with the intricate stitches of a silken thread.

It was an artisan's piece, and regardless of himself having never tackled the challenge of handcrafts before, it was a well constructed piece. Then again, he was naturally gifted with his hands and his experience in constructing scientific models and tools was well-versed, so any sort of praise given was nothing more than wasted breath.

But it wasn't even the journal that was all that impressive, at least in comparison to the content that was inside. On the cover he had labeled it "The Scientific Field Notes of Wilson P. Higgsbury", and inside of the open book there were words inscribed on the first set of pages that read as the following:

* * *

 

"Field Notes, Day 8

"My name is Wilson P. Higgsbury. After a bit more than a week of having been trapped in this place I've managed to construct a rugged journal fashioned out of papyrus, and now that I have an obituary, I say in humor of my current position, I am going to record all of the events that has happened up to this moment.

"First, I think it is important to mention that I ended up in this situation as result of a deceitful "negotiation", if it can even be called such...and needless to say, I have gotten much less than I have bargained for. If I would have known that the forbidden knowledge I was promised was actually the premise of interacting with foreign creatures that were all out for my blood, set in a sadistic survival game where I was forced to run and scavenge for each and every day for the rest of my natural life...

"To be honest, I would have politely declined the offer and perhaps would have made a nice cup of coffee instead.

"But the truth of it all is that I've only got myself to blame for this whole situation...I was a fool to think that there might've been such thing as a free lunch, but in the horrid state I was in, I wasn't left with many options. After being publicly outcast due to a certain situation that had involved an old time rival of mine known as...

"Actually, I would prefer not to describe the events that unfolded in further detail, but to put it curtly it wasn't a pleasant scenario. And due to those circumstances, my girlfriend had abandoned me and my parents followed not so long after: Going as far as to banishing me from my own estate and forcing me to relocate somewhere else. Ever since that incident I've settled in cabin deep in the neck of the woods where I have been left to venture after my own studies...if anything I've actually managed to accomplish these past few years could even be considered as such.

"But all of that is in the past, and what matters now is what I plan to do in order to escape...And just having written that down, I feel as if I may have to elaborate on the matter. After all, what is it that I have to escape from exactly? I actually have a theory, but first some background information:

"Ever since I awoke from a near-death incident that was caused by a force I still don't understand on the first day that I arrived: my first instinct was to contact another human. I believed that my utmost priority was to locate civilization, but the further I wandered around this realm on that first day, the less hope I had in that possibility. It wasn't long until I hit a shore, and with my understanding of the advancement of settlement that have been established back in America, I knew that there had to be some sort of city not that far off the coast. And even if I were to wander for a day or two on end, the odds were that I would encounter a road at the very least...

"After seven days of venturing through Prairies, Swamps, Rock-lands, Forests, and Savannahs, I've traced around the perimeter of this entire landmass and ended up exactly where I started, safely concluding that this place certainly isn't America. Worst case scenario is that I've been marooned on some uncharted island, but even more terrifying than this is the horrific possibility that I am currently located in some realm that exists beyond the one I previously inhabited.

"It's an insane claim, that much I am aware of. But after taking note of the Biomes and where it is that they are located, a location like this couldn't possibly exist on earth! I've taken claim to calling this location 'The Stage', a name I am sure to change later, on the account of its dramatic flair and general sense of dread; And that much is it so! The Biomes, the creatures, even the laws of physics themselves are absolutely askew! I am absolutely stuck in this mad world with what seems to be no chance of escape...

"At least, that's what I thought until this morning. I have made a temporary settlement on the edge of a Savannah, close enough to harvest some firewood but not too far away from my hunt: rabbits living in some burrows a bit deeper into the woods, and it was when I was harvesting some firewood for tonight that I noticed a large cloud of smoke that appeared from that direction.

"Where there is smoke there is a fire, and forest fires are a common site whenever there are droughts or thunderstorms within an area, but seeing how the temperature is still modest, as well as the fact that it hasn't rained a single day that I've been here means only one thing...

"There is another person. And maybe, just maybe, my way out of this whole entire mess.

"I've got my backpack prepared and full of various supplies in hopes that I may be able to make a partnership with them, and should all go well they may provide me with invaluable information regarding a way to escape this realm. I'm not as much excited as I am nervous about meeting this individual, but I do have hope that they may be civil and knowledgeable about our current situation.

"All in all, I hope that my encounter goes well with this Firestarter.

"-Wilson P. Higgsbury"


	3. The Hellhounds Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Willow spawns in the realm without any introduction and proceeds to do what she does best: Light fires. But even in the new realm she finds herself in, she isn't safe of the repercussions that follow her bad habits.
> 
> It just seems that no matter how hard she tries to avoid trouble, trouble always finds her.

Her ragged breathing was the result of her intensive sprinting as she dodged through the tall evergreens in the heavily forested woods. Yet even with the tremendous force of the speed she used to whip through several bushes, not a single branch would snap under her weight because of her incredibly light footwork. She was an avid runner: remarkably fit as far as the standards went for a young women such as her, but it would seem that even the endurance built from her years of running away from various people would not be enough to escape the assailants that have been after her since the first day she arrived in the realm.

Although it isn't necessarily fair to act as if they were always after her blood. After all, they had given her a fair chance while they were attempting to recruit her during their first meeting. But as the group revealed their intentions and made it obvious exactly what kind of 'people' they were, she made an executive decision and fled straight from the scene after realizing how they intended to use her.

But to be fair, their name was enough of an indicator to suggest that they were bad business.

* * *

 

When she first arrived in the realm about a week from the present, she was alone and confused as any other person would be under the same circumstances. She was made a promise by a persuasive individual who spoke to her through a radio, but she could not have imagined that this place would be the solution to her problems! After a day of wandering through a forest of birchnut trees she fell into the temptation of her personal vices and lit a tree on fire out of habit, but the unforeseen consequence of that action went far beyond her intention of alleviating a bit of stress. Instead, an entire group was signaled towards her position, making their way from the center of the birch forest directly towards her location.

The thought of encountering anybody else hasn't even crossed her mind. After all, she was more than suited to fend for herself after having done it for nearly half her life, but it wasn't like she had even made an attempt at contacting those who were before her then. And under normal circumstances, it wouldn't even have been a bad thing! But this group in particular would be sure to earn their name that they made for themselves...

But before she could even notice their arrival she collapsed to her knees and continued to stare at the tree she had set ablaze, her eyes entirely devoid of focus and any sort of attention she had dedicated towards the vivid motion of the sparks that flew off of the bark it was slowly consuming. Occupied within her own little world, she released a small giggle as she continued to spectate with her hearts content. It wasn't until she heard the roaring laughter of the four people behind her in response to her bizarre behavior that her heart stopped and she turned around to face them as quickly as the smokes of a fire would rise.

As if it wasn't terrifying enough hearing the laughter of four unknown characters out of the blue and in the middle of nowhere, the bodies of which the laughter had belonged to were that much more terrifying. She stared at the four of them, the whites of her eyes entirely visible and her body frozen stiff in absolute shock and terror as she was attempting her best to comprehend what exactly it was that she was looking at.

Of the three, it was only one of them that appeared entirely human. He must've been Scottish, based off of his voice and the remnants of a few red streaks that was in his mostly grey hair. As he was an elderly man, he could have been the intimidating member of the group. But with that maniacal look on his face...he did not look like a man of reason.

But at the very least he was a man, and despite how thin he appeared, the person standing next to him was nothing but bones! LITERALLY! Bearing a scar that was etched into his skull like a lightning bolt, he was a walking-talking skeleton that was moving among the living! Perhaps a revenant of some sort, and it wouldn't be a stretch to assume that the witch had something to do with that...

Indeed, the 'woman' before her, if the hag could even be called a term so flowery, appeared to be the stereotypical image of a witch: complete with the mage's hat, the crooked tooth, the wart on the protruded nose, and the hair that traveled in all sorts of directions.

But despite how bad the first three individuals seemed, the last one was unarguably the most terrifying of them all. He was not a man, but neither was he some simple-minded beast. Instead he appeared to be a combination of the two with the physique of a an average man and the features of a canine.

He bore large fangs that were sure tear through anything they came into contact with, provided any living thing were even given the mercy of such a swift death as they would surely encounter his claws first. His eyes were more like bottomless pits that pulled in his prey's will to live with nothing more than a tiny glimmer of yellow that sparkled deep in the inside. If looks could kill, those eyes would have been considered murder, which was only more than fitting with two of the most noticeable features of this dog-like monstrosity; except that, unlike a regular dog, he had large horns that extended from out of his forehead and curved right to a jagged point...but more faithful to the body of a dog, he did had a tail. Except for the fact that this tail was pointed like an arrow at the end.

With the red fur that cloaked his entire body, he appeared to be the physical embodiment of the devil. And in his presence, the woman of the flames was sure that things would not go well.

Long had it been since the fires of the tree had finally died out, and likewise, the laughter of the party was beginning to subside as well. The chortles, rattles, coughing, and barking had finally come to an end. With all five of the people surrounded by complete silence, the demon-dog walked forward an extended a hand towards the young woman.

"Sorry, my partners over here do get ahead of themselves sometimes. My name is--"

She shrieked in terror as she fell backwards and attempted to crawl away from him at an infant's pace.

"Y-y-you...can talk!"

He quickly drew back his hand in disgust and growled in response.

"What the hell does it look like I'm doing!? Unless your ability is talking to dogs, you wouldn't understand me otherwise!"

"M-my ability? What the hell are you talking about!?"

With her body completely flattened against the ground and quivering in fear, he exhaled deeply and muttered unsavory words to himself under his breath. As the younger woman continued staring on with unblinking eyes, the witch approached from behind the beast, placed her hand on his shoulder, and began whispering into his ear in a harsh tone that sounded as if it would be used by a pet owner scolding their own dog after they misbehave.

"What do you think you're doing? You're frightening this girl to death! There is no way we can earn her trust if you are going to act like some scary monster, so apologize and start over."

He shook her hand off his shoulder growled begrudgingly, yet still obeyed her command without complaint despite him being the one in charge of and not the other way around.

"Sorry, I lose my temper at times." He strained his voice to say. With a bit more of a 'relaxed' tone, he continued speaking to the woman. "Let's try again, shall we? My name is Wortox, and these--" he waved his hand to motion towards the three individuals behind him, looking back at them with a grin full of fangs as he did so, "Are my Hellhounds. So, now that you are acquainted with us," he paused again to look at her directly in her eyes, which were still unblinking but a bit more timid than they were at first, "Who are you?" he had questioned at last, extending his hand for the last time and waiting for her to accept.

She began to stare at his paw, unsure whether or not she should take it or instead run straight for the hills...

After a quick second of decision making, she chose the former and allowed him to hoist herself up. Trying to make a break for it would have been signing a death warrant with her own blood, and seeing as he was a hound there was no way she could escape from him by foot! At least not at that moment, she would have to wait until another opportunity would present itself...but for the time being, she was going to follow along with whatever he says, which had meant giving her name.

Finally standing up on her own she looked at him straight into his piercing eyes, and with confidence she finally revealed her name.

"My name is Willow. That's all I'm really comfortable saying right now, if you don't mind."

Wortox began howling with laughter to Willow's response, and after a moment of his own he regained his composure, cleared his throat, and responded to her in a civil manner.

"That's fair enough, considering how we've just met and how little you still know about how things work around this place. In due time you'll come to understand, but right now that's all we need. Oh, and in case you were wondering: the witch is Waverly, that geezer right there is called Wallace, and the piles of bones over there is known as Wilton."

"Wilton, huh? That's an unusual name if I've ever heard one." she commented without any regard towards his feelings.

"That's rich, coming from a person who chooses to forsake her own namesake by burning down trees." He responded gruffly. It was odd enough that a someone like him was able to speak, but given the situation it really didn't seem all that important.

"All of you will get the chance to acquaint yourselves with her later on," Wortox explained to his group. "But for now you'll remain silent." He turned to Willow. "Come follow us. We've established a base a fair distance away, and once we arrive we will discuss about your role in the group and what our plan is to escape this place."

So it seemed that this group was much more reasonable than she had first believed. Still, she knew better than to trust strangers as that was simply her nature, and a group that went by the name of 'The Hellhounds'? You could've spelled bad news and get the same result, but she would at least stick around until she knew more about a way to return to the life she had left behind, as well as what role they needed her to play in such a plan...

All the while she would keep her hands tucked inside of her coat pocket, Her finger set on the trigger of her Lucky Lighter.

* * *

 

She hadn't stopped running since the moment she broke away from their camp, and it was only a matter of time before they caught up with her. All the while, she felt her body growing weaker as she began tripping over her own footsteps. Of course, it didn't help that her skirt went down to the length of the ground and was getting caught on all sorts of twigs and rocks, but there was nothing she could do about that.

Alongside her body, her mind was beginning to numb as well. She had gone for days on end without little more than a minute or two of rest, and even during those moments she was busy scavenging for food, failing to gather any more than a handful of berries to keep herself sustained. She had felt herself slipping, transitioning into a state of duress, and the last thing she needed was to stop moving so that she would start another fire, especially given how it had gotten her into the entire mess into the first place! But it was compulsion, an act of will that she could never break from no matter how desperately she tried.

As she tugged on her ponytails and began reciting a personal mantra at an attempt to keep a cool head, she tripped over a stump and fell face forward into the ground.

That was it.

The last straw, the final component required to set her off. It was almost as if a mental barrier had snapped within her mind as she slowly brought up her head with a thin grin present on her face. She then began laughing, almost manically, as she brought out her lighter and stared into it with glossy eyes devoid of all humanity. At that moment her heart was drumming against her own chest, wishing to be quelled by the one thing that had always brought it peace in the past:

She was going to a light a fire. A LARGE fire.

She took notice of some of the tallest trees she had ever witnessed, as well as some more manageable trees that were surrounding them. She drudged along without any sense of rationality or reason, mindlessly gathering twigs and flint in order to construct an ax. She felled tree after another until she had made large enough a clearing between the tall clump of trees and the rest of the forest that had surrounded it, and with one flick of her lighter, she walked straight into the center. It caught on quickly, and she quickly became surrounded in a sea of flames as the fire crept up the evergreens that must have been at least hundreds of feet in height.

She fell to the ground surrounded by the blaze of the evergreens. She was laughing like a mental patient, and acting like one too as she clung to her sides and rolled side to side. After several minutes of doing the same action, her sanity returned and her mind began to regain focus again. She was crouched within the ring of fire, her arms still wrapped around her own body. She began to realize the current state she was in, and tears began flowing through her eyes as she slumped forward even further.

She began sobbing lightly. They had all been right, every one of them...she was insane, and there was nothing anybody could ever do about it. All she could do is remain within her own trap and rest until Wortox and his gang eventually found and detained her by force.

But off in the distance, a newcomer observed the smoke as it rose above the trees.

Wilson had noticed the smoke, his eyes widening in the possibility that another human was present in the world! He made haste in preparing for his encounter, and was dead set on encountering another human.

No matter the cost.


	4. The Hellhounds Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Willow had been fleeing from the Hellhounds for nearly a week, and it seems that their quickly approaching her position! From a distance away, Wilson manages to locate her position, but what can he possibly do to avoid the wrath of the group that has been intent on capturing her since day one?

Wilson was finally nearing his destination, no more than 20 meters if his assumption proved to be correct. It was almost high noon if the sun could still be considered a reliable method of measuring time, and the smoke had just begun to die out. This provided him with some much needed reassurance that a person did start the fire, as if it were uncontrolled it would've spread to the edges of the forest and would've kept on burning. But since there was only a single patch of trees that were lit on fire in the midst of a densely populated forest, it could only mean that somebody isolated the trees and set them aflame. Whether or not the person stuck around to witness the fire extinguish was a question that lingered on in his mind, but since he was surrounded by thick foliage he could not tell.

After a few more steps, he was finally at the opening of the trees and glimpsed at the charred husks that stood before him. They were momentous in size, and surprisingly enough they were still smoldering with heat that was still scolding at a temperature hot enough to inflict severe burns if anybody had gotten close enough.

As he expected, all the trees surrounding it have been felled...but much to his demise, there was no indication of another person being nearby. 

His eyes began watering and he was suddenly feeling short of breath, perhaps as result of the heavy smoke that was lingering in the area, and he retreated back into the shade of the trees outside of the clearing as he paced back and forth anxiously while trying to get his thoughts in order.

"No no no...I couldn't possibly have missed them when they were just here!" He hissed to himself "Another person was here, and I was too late to meet them!? Gah!" He dropped his ax to the ground and began to butt his head against the trunk of a thick tree. "Useless! Useless! Useless!". He repeatedly chanted the phrase as he brought his head to the tree, and only stopped until he felt himself dizzying.

"Breathe, Wilson, breathe...everything is alright!" He backed away from the tree and attempted to calm down as he combed his hands through his hair. "They couldn't possibly have gone too far, right? I mean, who would be so meticulous as to start a fire of this scale and not return to it? Perhaps it's a signal, so they must have the intention of constructing another one, right? And if they are to do so, then they would surely return to these trees to harvest the charcoal! That seems reasonable...doesn't it?" he questioned himself. Seeing as the fire brought his attention from nearly halfway across the island and managed to bolster the impressive burn time of nearly nearly half a day with such a low fuel ratio, the rationalization did seem reasonable...Although he personally believed that such an idea was absolutely pointless and nothing more than a waste of time and materials.

"Okay, so not all hope is lost. I just have to linger around this area for a bit longer and they will show themselves! Now it's just a matter of--" His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of barking heading towards his direction. He instinctively jumped into a nearby bush and ceased speaking aloud, even going as far as to breathe quieter in hopes that the hissing of the embers would drown him out entirely.

"It was a hound! It must have been!" he thought. Of course calling it a 'hound', so to speak, was a bit of an understatement, as unlike a canine that existed back in the regular plane, these ones were much more vicious, large, and terrifying all the same. He had encountered a pair of them on his third day, and as he was unprepared he only narrowly escaped with his life because of his fortunate proximity to killer bees at the time. The second time he encountered the beasts was when he was venturing through a Desert-like Biome and noticed several mounds which they appeared from...Needless to say, he had learned his lesson the first time around and immediately proceeded to venture away from the environment.

He was wise enough to know that the best way of dealing with those brutes is not to mess with them in the first place, and as he heard three more sets of footsteps behind the first one he was certain to remain deep inside the bush--

"Hold on a moment, footsteps?" Initially he didn't question the unusual walking pattern of the threat that was approaching him, as all he needed to know at that moment was that it was a hound. But the closer the group drew near, the more it began sounding like actual footsteps...He then came to the conclusion that those weren't hounds at all, they were all bipedal!

"But what about the barking?" he asked himself. Out of pure curiosity he made a calculated risk and peered out of the bush, instantly regretting what he saw.

He did indeed hear a dog, but that thing that stood before him was no ordinary dog...

It was a monster, and it looked incredibly angry.

Sniffing around the entire area with eyes filled with murderous intent, he growled in frustration as he was unable to pick up on any scents.

"She was just here!? How the hell have we managed to lose that woman!" He barked at his three colleagues, or whatever they were to him. "We've been chasing her for nearly a week now! How has she managed to stay ahead of us that entire time!?" All three were scuffling around in their spots in shame, a bit like puppies that have been reprimanded for soiling a carpet flooring. "Well? I'm not hearing an answer!" The three continued to remain silent. He growled again and began approaching the tree Wilson stood at moments ago, striking it in anger and causing several leaves to fall from their place. Wilson flinched in response, but thankfully not enough to make the movement of the bush noticeable. "I can't believe that she blinded my nose with ashes the first day inside of our camp...why that ungrateful little--" he exhaled deeply and returned to where his group was standing.

"I told ye' it was a bad idea to bring that girl back to our camp." The elderly man muttered.

"What was that?" Wortox hissed back at him.

"It's as I told ye' Wortox, but ye refused t' listen! There was no way in hell that the lunatic would've stayed around after she knew what sort of things she was capable of! That's too much power for a woman such as her to be able to control; I say good riddance to her, our plans will still commence without that blasted--"

Wortox barked in defiance and the man quickly bounced backwards, immediately silencing himself.

"I don't believe I asked for your opinion on the matter, Wallace. Don't you dare speak out of turn! We need that woman in order to survive long enough to assemble the components we need to escape from this  
damned place, and there's no way we can manage that without an ability like hers!"

"Ability?" Wilson repeated in his mind. He was curious as to what it was that they were referring to, but played it smart and chose not to rudely interrupt their conversation for the sake of asking a question.

"I say we can do just fine without her, Wortox." The skeleton spoke as he stepped in-between the old man and the dog. The witch chose to play it smart and backed away so that the men could be men.

Wortox quickly approached him and displayed his fangs. "You speak when you are spoken to, Wilton!"

Wilson's heart froze at the mention of the name. Wilton? He couldn't possibly have been the same as the one that he knew...but then again, there was the same height, mannerisms, and even that voice! He refused to think on the subject any further and instead continued listening to the conversation he was having with the hound.

"You ain't nothing, hound dog. I dare you to try killing what's already dead." He challenged. Wortox winced his eyes, but didn't pounce on him immediately. "Look around you, there are trees for what must be miles and miles. Finding enough fuel for the winter that is to come won't be any sort of challenge, and during that time I can collect all the wood we can ever need! It's not as if I can become frozen like the rest of you can." He stated.

Wortox pondered on what Wilton said, unable to form a reasonable argument against his proposal. But in spite of that he was going to argue anyway, claim that his word was law, and have them continue the hunt for Willow; that was until they all heard the feminine sound of somebody coughing heavily nearby. They all immediately looked towards Waverly who appeared as surprised as they were, and with the same realization they all immediately began checking the area.

Wilson had also realized that the person was still here, and a woman no less! He attempted locating her by listening out for her intensifying spout of coughing, and located her in nowhere other than inside the smoldering trees themselves!

A flood of thoughts came rushing inside of his mind as he questioned what she was doing inside of there for so long. "She's been on the run and resorted to hiding inside of the fire to escape them! It's almost hard to believe that she's been inside of there for so long, but it seems that she isolated a ring of trees and set it on fire! Given her situation, it was almost a foolproof plan if it weren't for one fatal flaw..." He interrupted his thought process as he heard the authoritative barking of Wortox's voice yet again. Before he could do anything about her he had to distract the group somehow. But what could he do?

Just then a thought occurred to him; an incredibly stupid one, granted, but a thought nonetheless. Under the cloak of the bush he began frantically digging through his backpack in search of some wood and a strand of rope. Within a matter of seconds, he constructed an incredibly shoddy looking boomerang. Had he been given more time, it would've been more sturdy and it could have possibly returned to him should he have used the proper throwing technique, but of course that was not the intention, he just needed something remotely aerodynamic and he needed it quickly!

He jumped out of the bush without any precaution. Fortunately enough nobody had been looking his way, and with one swift arc of his arm he threw the contraption and it went barreling through several trees before its flight was ended. Miraculously, the distraction was more than enough to catch the attention of the group as Wortox led a charge in the direction that the boomerang headed, thinking that it might've been the woman attempting to run away.

In one swift motion, Wilson grabbed his ax and quickly broke through the clearing, standing before the charred behemoths at long last. After circling around it in a few steps, he saw a glimpse of the woman between the gap of two trees.

Honest to God, it was a woman! And as it seemed she was someone else in this realm who needed help far more desperately than he did. She was laying on the ground and attempting to cover up her mouth with her hand, coughing significantly lighter in comparison to the fit she was having moments ago. It was almost entirely faint, but as much would be expected in the position she was currently in.

She was unable to breathe, and as such, unable to get out of her current situation.

Wilson made no haste in applying his ax to one of the trees, wincing with every spark that flew in his direction. Despite the searing heat that was causing him to overheat, he continued working whilst being blissfully unaware that his arms were sustaining intensive burns. Once the tree began cracking and falling his direction, he sidestepped out of the way and dove into the ring. Flinging the ax aside, he dropped to the ground and proceeded to cradle her using both of his arms. The adrenaline that had been coursing through his body made him impervious to all of the pain he was experiencing, and so it had seemed, all common reason as well.

After marching a few steps out of the ring, his fatigue finally caught up with him. He slowed down his pace and eventually collapsed to the ground right beside where he dropped her.

The woman was breathing in sputters, barely conscious and still attempting to piece together what had just happened. She had been running for days, hungry, confused, and terrified ever since the moment she fled away from their camp...It was a tough decision to begin with, but it didn't take her long to figure out that she was going to be used as no more than a tool after she pieced together what they wanted her for and what she was supposedly capable of once they revealed it to her. Once night fell, she snuffed the fire, grabbed a handful of ashes, tossed the dust towards Wortox's nose, and flicked on her lighter as she went with the wind. For some reason that was beyond her comprehension, they were more preoccupied with reigniting the fire then chasing her into the dark, and ever since that one daring moment she had kept on running.

For the while she had been inside of trees, she was more than fine. Any normal person would have caught fire immediately, but somehow she was impervious to the damage of fire. Being aware of her immunity, she had rested inside of the burning halo and planned to begin running once she began to hear their approach, however, when she woke up she found herself unable to breathe. To think that she had actually forgotten that one of the most basic principles of fire was that it consumed oxygen! By the time she tried getting back up, it was already too late and she found herself gasping for air and choking on the lack of it. For a moment, she was certain that she was going to die there until somebody had appeared from nowhere and apparently rescued her.

With what little energy she had remaining, she rolled over and took a glance towards her savior. Much to her surprise, it was an entirely new person. At first she believed that it may have been one of the Hellhounds gone rogue, but right then she recognized that he was somebody new and realized that he had risked their life attempting to save her. And it wasn't as if he went unscathed, as she quickly took notice to the serious burns that were on both of his arms...

"Are you alright?" He managed to croak. It sounded as if he could give in at any moment, yet it seemed that he was still clinging on just for the sake of confirming that she was alright.

"I'll live." She responded with her voice sounding just as strained as his was. "But your arms...they're all burnt up."

"I can recover," He coughed several times. "But there was no guarantee that you would last much longer inside of there."

She pondered on what he had just said, still unsure why he was so willing to make such a sacrifice. She thanked him, but he didn't hear her gratitude as he had just passed unconscious after muttering his last statement. She crawled towards him slowly, planning on dragging the both of them to a location where they could remain hidden until he became conscious again. Once she did reach him, she hoisted his torso up and saw his face clearly for the first time, and plastered onto it was a faint grin.

It was a stupid grin, and for some reason, despite everything he had just witnessed, he still felt some urge to smile. Willow found herself shocked at the nature of this man, so much so that instead of beginning to drag him along, she wrapped her arms around his torso and sank her head into his chest as she began to cry. She was thankful that he was not awake to witness the embarrassing act, but more so she was thankful that of all the people she could have potentially stumbled across in this upside down world, he was the one that found her.

In her life, there weren't too many people that were willing to put up with her, especially after they became aware of her fire-setting antics, 

So in the end, it was relieving to meet someone that felt happy just knowing that she was safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just hope that the ending wasn't too sappy or anything like that. I swear that there's more to her personality than "crybaby" and "psychopath", but that's how character development tends to work, isn't it?
> 
> Oh well. In due time, I will provide backstory as to why she's the way she is.
> 
> It's hard enough not making this entire story one big exposition dump, y'know?


End file.
